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July 31, 2008

Bottle Water is a Thing of Beauty!

by Sam Savage

WHILE people in parts of Africa and Asia struggle to get enough clean water, Britons spent nearly pounds 1.7 billion on the bottled stuff in 2006 - despite having some of the safest water in the world on tap.

Yet a recent Which? magazine study found that half of those surveyed couldn't taste the difference between bottled and tap.

Eighteen per cent actually preferred it from the tap.

We've long been told that water is good for our health, but one UK company has gone a step further.

Works With Water Nutraceuticals produce 'naturally flavoured' spring waters that claim to have clinically proven health benefits.

The newest addition, Beauty, contains a milk derived protein called Praventin which apparently reduces the inflammation associated with acne and the bacteria that causes it.

Beauty comes in a prettily decorated bottle and is rather too sweet for my taste.

For thirsty folks who are more concerned about inner health than outer beauty, Works With Water has developed pomegranate-flavoured 120/80 water to tackle hypertension.

This product contains dairy peptides, which promise to help reduce high blood pressure, and sweetener. This definitely seemed medicinal, by which I mean that I found it very unpleasant to drink.

Both products contain half the recommended daily amount of their magic ingredients. Each costs pounds 1.29 for a 500ml bottle and is available from selected Tesco, Morrisons, Booths and Julian Graves stores.

Lastly, it's probably extremely unethical to drink water that claims to come from the Norwegian glaciers, but Isklar (Norwegian for 'ice-clear') is the best-tasting bottled water I drank in the course of my research. Isklar is available from Morrisons and Waitrose, priced from 79p for a 70cl sports bottle to pounds 3.79 for a pack of 6 1.5L bottles.